Plushenko has spoken about wanting to open up skating schools in Russia where students can also live and study. And he doesn't rule out coaching either. But he loves to skate and compete and has no desire to stop yet. Is there something wrong with that, for someone who has been a figure skater all his life and is still earning respectable results (when healthy)? Of course I am concerned about his body, but I think he is smart enough to respect his limits.

I'm sure he has never lost a wink of sleep over Yagudin's opinion of him either.

But he loves to skate and compete and has no desire to stop yet. Is there something wrong with that, for someone who has been a figure skater all his life and is still earning respectable results (when healthy)? Of course I am concerned about his body, but I think he is smart enough to respect his limits.

Of course there is nothing wrong with that, I 'hope' that if Russia is limited to only 1-2 spot(s) in another major competition again that they think long and extremely hard about having him be 1 of the competitors. The stumble/awkward landing that he did in the Olympics that forced him to withdraw, did not look all that bad, but when you have had that many procedures on a vital part of your anatomy you are far more likely to get injured easily.

Originally Posted by gallavich

Of course I am concerned about his body, but I think he is smart enough to respect his limits.

This reminds me of the NFL (American football) there are a lot of former players talking about the amount of hits they took during their career and the damage that it did to them 10, 20, 30 years later. *Yes, I take the approach that these are grown adults they are well within their rights to mutilate their bodies* But I still feel its an extremely stupid move to make, especially when you are talking about something like your back.